


Kissed by Starlight

by MyseryLuvsCompany



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Gen, I'm not even sure what to put here because I dont know whats happening XD, M/M, Magic, Royalty, Yuuri is a determined pure snowflake, and it gets him into trouble
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-08
Updated: 2017-11-08
Packaged: 2019-01-30 17:03:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12657747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MyseryLuvsCompany/pseuds/MyseryLuvsCompany
Summary: "Your son will be kissed by starlight itself and posses the kindest heart seen in many generations. He will help heal and bring light to the darkest places." Hiroko felt tears gather in the corners of her eyes as Minako finished her reading with a smile. Her little boy; her Yuuri would do all that? As she looked down at the settled babe, her own brown eyes looking inquisitively back at her, she couldn't help sharing in the other woman's smile.





	Kissed by Starlight

**Author's Note:**

> This is my NaNoWriMo project this year! I got bitten by this bug around mid October actually so it became a last minute 'I SHOULD DO THIS' and the hardest part of all was waiting to start writing. I will admit I'm mostly winging this whole thing, so who knows where the story may go. For now though, enjoy!

When Yuuri was twelve years old, his mother fell ill with the Red Sickness.

Their small village sat near the border of two neighbouring kingdoms, a piece of land that had been, in years gone by, fought over by both royal armies in order to lay claim to it, and the large forest that sat to its east, known to most as simply the Dark Forest. Hasetsu was a way point for travellers, the Yu-topia Inn especially, so although many mourned for the family who owned it, none were surprised that it had reared its head in their frequently travelled home. It was a bad omen, they said. Even those who had known the Katsuki’s for years suddenly became wary of the family and the rooms and hot springs were suddenly empty in a way they hadn’t seen for years.

No-one knew from where the sickness came, or even how it was contracted; only that in those rare cases that it was, it would prove fatal. Nobody survived the Red Sickness. That’s what the villagers all said. It would be a mercy to let Hiroko Katsuki pass before it got any worse.

Yuuri refused to believe it. He may have only been a boy, twelve years old and only just showing the first sparks of his magic due to being a late bloomer, but he would save his mother somehow. He read every book Minako had left behind, every book the town had on anything even remotely close to healing, but as the days wore on and his mother grew more ill, Yuuri grew desperate. One of the local boys, a cruel child who pushed the smaller children around and took pleasure in their suffering, noticed that desperation and decided to play a prank on the boy. He talked to his friends of a plant in the forest that could heal anything, a false rumour he’d claimed to overhear from his mother. It was rare and beautiful, and only to be found in the depths of the dark forest, he said loudly enough for the Katsuki boy to hear.

That was all it took for Yuuri to set his mind to finding it.

He knew he’d have to sneak away from the Inn. Neither his father nor older sister would let him go, but he _had_ to. It was their mother’s only chance and he was old enough to go. At least, that’s what Yuuri kept telling himself as he finished his dinner for the evening and said goodnight to his family. His stomach was tumbling with nervousness as he burrowed under his blankets until it was time to leave. The door to his room slid open, and he feigned sleep until the inspection was done and it closed again. When everything had gone still and silent, aside from the occasional cough or caw of a bird outside in the dark, Yuuri opened his eyes and climbed out of his bed.

The young boy was certain that his heart could be heard across the building with how hard it was beating, especially as he crept from his room and out into the main area of the inn. He carefully avoided the creaky step, third from the top, on his way down and Minako, who was passed out in the dining area, obviously the victim of her excessive love of their sake once again. Their lack of patrons made it all too easy for Yuuri to sneak out of the inn and soon enough he was hurrying through the streets of their village towards the forest which loomed, even in the darkness. He’d heard the stories of it his whole life, why it was called the dark forest and why nobody travelled deeper than the paths that edged just inside its tree line and they scared him. Talk of ghosts and voids portals, of hulking beasts that were waiting to gobble up any boy foolish enough to venture too far had kept him understandably as far away from those trees as possible.

Until now.

As he left the edge of the village and crossed the expanse that sat between it and the forests edge, Yuuri knew this was the moment of truth. His last chance to turn around and go back to bed, to cower under his covers and forget all about the silly idea. An image of his mother’s smiling face dashed across his mind, followed by the hollowness that was swallowing his father alive and the red, puffiness of his sister’s eyes that never went away. No, he couldn’t give up. Not until he found that plant and saved his mother. Yuuri paused for a moment before the forests edge and swallowed past the lump in his throat. This was it.

The light from the waning moon wasn’t enough to penetrate very far into the shadows the trees cast and he tried not to imagine what might be waiting for him in that inky blackness. The boy tightened his grip on the strap of his pack and straightened up before he put one foot in front of the other and walked into the dark forest with his head held high, thoughts of his mother and family giving him the strength to do so.

The shadows swallowed him in an instant.

Yuuri woke feeling as if his brain was trying to beat its way out of his skull. The sunlight was harsh to his eyes, blinding and burning rather unpleasantly and he threw an arm over the sensitive orbs to try and protect them. What had happened? He was laying on a relatively soft patch of grass and staring up at the blue, cloudless sky above, and Yuuri realised with a small start that he couldn’t remember how he’d gotten there. In fact, he couldn’t remember what had happened to him period. His last clear memory was of… the forest. Standing in front of it in the middle of the night and steeling his resolve to go inside. Had he chickened out in the end and fallen asleep somewhere? No matter how hard he tried, there was just a blank hole where anything after that memory should have been.

When finally the pounding in his head lessened a little, Yuuri sat up and noticed his pack beside him. It was as he pulled it closer that he finally noticed the bandage wrapped around his right leg. That hadn’t been there when he’d left the inn. With a cautious hand, he reached down and prodded the wrapping, expecting pain. Nothing came however and, after taking a moment to examine it more closely, he carefully unwrapped the bandage. Whoever had done it was skilled, the binding tight and efficient but not so tight as to hurt. It fell away to reveal unblemished skin underneath. What on earth?

If he’d been injured, there should have been some sign of it. Even a strain, of which he’d had plenty in his life thanks to his love of dancing, shouldn’t have healed in one night. Dark eyes turned to the bandage and on the underside that had been pressed against his skin there was a stain that looked like something had been rubbed into it. A poultice of some kind maybe? Yuuri was more confused the longer he thought about it. Maybe going into the forest hadn’t actually been a good idea after all.

Suddenly recalling his purpose, he tore open his pack. If he’d been injured maybe he’d succeeded! Maybe that’s what the bandage was. He could have found the plant and used some of it to help himself. Yuuri rifled through the few things he’d packed but there was no plant, or leaves or anything else to signify he’d found his quarry. Also, strangely all his food was gone. As he reached the bottom of the pack, the dark haired boy found something else strange.

It was a ceramic bottle with a cork stopper; the kind he sometimes saw the village healers handing over in the marketplace. There was a tag attached to this one however, a small piece of twine holding it to the neck of the bottle, and filled with script. Yuuri took a few moments to look at the words, the elegant script filling his mind with the feeling that whoever wrote it was as graceful as the strokes seemed; before they actually registered in his mind.

_'Five drops to be mixed with food, morning and night for three days. On the fourth day, half the remaining tonic to be mixed with Azadirachta indica and salt into a paste, spread upon bandages and applied directly to carbuncles. Repeat on fifth day using the remaining tonic. Your mother should be recovering by then Yuuri.'_

Someone had made this tonic for his mother, but who? Yuuri's mind was literally a blank void whenever he tried to recall speaking with, or even just seeing someone in the forest. Try as he might, nothing would come to mind, and it frustrated Yuuri immensely. How was he supposed to know if this would even work if he couldn't ask the person who made it? He was broken from his thoughts as the sound of the village bells reached his ears.

_'Oh god no...'_

The bells only rang when someone had died during the night. Fearing the worst, Yuuri hastily stuffed everything back in his pack, rose from the ground and started running towards the village and his home as fast as his slightly chubby legs would carry him.

He eventually skidded to a halt just before the door to the inn and paused to try and catch his breath, before he threw it open and hurried inside. It was deserted, as it had been for days, and Yuuri ran through the halls until he reached his parents room. Barging inside with panic running through his veins, Yuuri almost collapsed with relief at the sight of his mother still laying in her bed, her chest rising and falling with laboured breaths. His father jumped in the seat beside her, the slam of the door obviously having startled the older man badly, and the sound of running footsteps grew louder until Mari stood behind him in the doorway.

“Yuuri! What the hell happened to you?!” his older sister exclaimed, grabbing the boy by the shoulders. He just looked at her guiltily. He'd hoped to be back before anyone noticed he was gone. “You've been missing for three days!” Wait, what? Yuuri did a double-take for a moment, confused. He'd only been gone the night...... hadn't he? His confusion must have been plain because his sister raised an eyebrow. “Where were you Yuuri?”

“In the forest,” he muttered, his mouth forming the words before his brain could think better of it. Before Mari could respond, a pained moan from the best drew their attention and Hiroko shifted, her forehead scrunched up beneath the sweat and Toshiya jumped to continuing dabbing at the surface with a reproachful look at his children. Mari dragged Yuuri from the room and closed the door in the wake of the look, steering the younger boy back down the hallway. Once they were back in the main dining area, Mari stopped and turned Yuuri to face her.

“What do you mean 'in the forest' Yuuri? Please tell me you didn't go wandering off in there,” Mari spoke slowly, attempting to keep her voice calm as she looked him over for injuries or scrapes. She'd been frantic about where her little brother had disappeared to, and as one day had dragged into two, then three, despair had started to set in. Were they cursed? Was that why their mother was dying and now her baby brother had disappeared without a trace?

Her grip on his shoulders was hard, but Yuuri could see the cracks forming around his sisters edges. She really had been worried about him. Suddenly his gut twisted in guilt. “I-I just wanted to help mama. So-some of the boys were talking about a plant that c-could heal people and I just wanted to save her!” Yuuri began to stutter as sobs broke through in his voice and tears formed in his eyes. He buried his face in the palms of his hands in an effort to stifle them both. Without a word, the younger boy was tugged forward into his sisters arms and hugged tightly.

“I didn't find it,” Yuuri muttered sadly, still sniffling into Mari's shoulder as she rubbed his back soothingly. A moment later however, he pulled away with wide eyes and hurried to take the pack from his shoulders. Rifling through the contents once more, Yuuri pulled the ceramic bottle from within and tentatively offered it to Mari with all the shyness of a child present a handmade gift to someone. “I don't know where this came from, but it says it should help mama.” Mari took it cautiously and read the attached tag before her eyes widened.

Something passed over her face for a moment, indecision maybe, before she steeled her features and nodded. “You did well, Yuuri, but if you disappear like that again, I'm going to tickle you so hard you'll pee your pants,” the older female threatened and Yuuri instinctively wrapped his arms around his stomach, attempting to shield the sensitive, soft flesh from the taunt. Mari laughed as she retreated to the kitchen to prepare food for them all, and the dark haired boy made his way up the stairs towards his bedroom. Each step seemed to drain Yuuri until he all but dragged himself onto his bed and collapsed upon it.

Begging for that tonic to work, Yuuri managed a small prayer to the gods, and to whoever had made it for him. He may not have known them, but only someone good would do something like that for a stranger.... right? Before he could linger on that thought too long, sleep stole him away.

**Author's Note:**

> If you would like to follow my updates on tumblr, I have an account [here](http://writingsinmysery.tumblr.com/) solely for that or you can follow my main [tumblr](http://myseryluvscompany.tumblr.com/).


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